Imagine fitting an entire homestead onto a floating platform on a body of water. That’s exactly what the owners of a jaw-dropping cabin, complete with porch and gardens, have done on British Columbia’s peaceful Powell Lake. Wayne and Margy Lutz purchased the home ten years ago for just $25,000 and now live a tranquil life growing much of their own food on their highly unusual water-based property.

Going far beyond a mere houseboat, this floating off-grid house is a conventional twenty-by-twenty-foot cabin with 1.5 stories including two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living and dining room. Supported by a forty-by-forty-foot platform, the homestead also has a boat dock, wood shed and vegetable garden.

Solar and wind power supplement propane for cooking, refrigeration and lighting. The owners gather floating wood debris to use as firewood, and use pots and pans on top of the wood stove to heat water. The cabin platform was constructed on huge logs found floating in the lake, which are secured to the shore and the lake bed.

“In 2001, Wayne and I discovered our float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC. In the beginning, we could only be there on school holidays since we were both educators. Now we can be in our off-the-grid cabin home about 75% of the year in all seasons,” says Margy Lutz. Read all about the details of this lake-centric lifestyle and learn more about how the cabin was built at Powell River Books.